The Unwelcome Savior
Recalling the past seven years caused her fear to vanish completely.
Josephine squared her shoulders with pride.
“Canna is family to me now. She is the daughter-in-law of the Valentino house. As her elder, it is only natural to correct her bad habits...”
“Correcting her habits, you say?”
But it did not go as she expected.
Kallen, whom she had assumed would simply let the matter slide, rudely cut her off.
“Is stripping a noblewoman, forcing her to kneel on the dirt, and beating her in front of others the Valentino way?”
Yet Josephine refused to yield.
“What else could I do, Sir Kallen? Canna lied. And she dared to do it right in front of Her Highness the Princess!”
She cast a quick glance toward Lilienne, seeking support, but the princess acted as though the entire affair had nothing to do with her.
“...Step aside.”
Kallen drew in a deep breath.
He repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, breathing as if physically crushing down his fury. It seemed to be the method he used to keep himself under control.
“I told you to step aside.”
Josephine ground her teeth and glared at him.
Would she tuck her tail and retreat, or stand her ground and fight? In that brief instant, she wrestled fiercely with the choice.
And she chose.
“How rude, Sir Kallen. This is the Valentino residence. It is not a place where you may issue orders as you please!”
Having made her decision, there was no reason to hesitate.
Josephine deliberately lifted Canna’s chin with the edge of her fan, hard enough to bruise.
“Do you even know what this girl has done? Last night she used sorcery to knock the knights unconscious. On top of that, she trespassed into the duke’s bedroom without permission! And you think that’s the end of it? She dared to lie before a member of the imperial family.”
Josephine straightened her spine triumphantly and raised her voice.
“Furthermore, she recently stood in a public trial under the Valentino name! This is an unprecedented disgrace in our family’s history!”
Yes. The justification for punishment was more than sufficient.
“The Addis family may choose to overlook such behavior, but the Valentino family will not tolerate it! I refuse to stand by while my daughter-in-law drags our house’s honor through the mud. Therefore, stop meddling in our family affairs and leave at once!”
While Josephine continued her tirade, Kallen worked to subdue his rage.
He forced down the emotions that had nearly made his head spin and studied Canna closely.
Her chin forcibly tilted upward by the fan. The sight was far more wretched than it had appeared from a distance.
Her lip was split and bleeding. Her hair hung in wild disarray...
Why?
...and she was staring at him with pure annoyance.
For a moment, every word left Kallen’s mind.
Had his eyes deceived him?
Was he seeing things?
No. That was not the case. Canna truly looked irritated. The gaze she fixed on him was nothing but sheer bother.
It was the exact look one gave an unwelcome intruder.
Why?
His mind went blank. The back of his head felt numb, as if he had been struck.
Why was she looking at him like that?
Why was she not sending him any signal for help?
Even while enduring such humiliation, why?
“Go back, Sir Kallen Addis. Leave now, and I shall forget this rudeness!”
Kallen’s face went rigid.
Perhaps thanks to Josephine’s outburst, he had grown utterly calm. He assessed the situation with a colder clarity than ever before.
He knew exactly what he had to do now.
“...Sir Kallen!”
Josephine’s eyes widened. Lilienne swallowed a short gasp.
Kallen had drawn his sword without warning.
“W-what do you think you’re doing!”
The Valentino knights drew their blades in response. Yet Kallen did not spare them so much as a glance. He spoke calmly.
“I have no desire to escalate this, Count Elster.”
“L-look at what you’re doing! You are escalating it! Drawing your sword—do you truly wish to turn this into a feud between houses?”
“That choice lies with you, Count.”
“...!”
Kallen stared straight into Josephine’s eyes and declared slowly.
“Decide now whether you wish to escalate this into open conflict.”
“What on earth...”
“I am prepared for either outcome.”
Josephine bit her lip.
Kallen Addis was threatening her outright.
He was declaring—with the weight of his family name—that there would be war if she did not hand Canna over.
Why is he acting like this!
Why was he behaving so irrationally? She had heard he was the cool-headed gentleman of Addis, yet it seemed every rumor had been false.
But letting this blow up would only harm me.
A feud between Addis and Valentino. A rift among the holy knights’ descendants. Conflict between the continent’s guardians.
It would spread across the entire empire without fail.
Besides, her stepson Sylvien despised troublesome matters. If she fell from his favor, she might be driven from this very house...
“Do as you please! Whether you take the girl or not is of no concern to me!”
Only then did Kallen sheath his sword.
He strode forward at once and reached to lift Canna into his arms. Or tried to.
“Get off.”
Canna whispered so softly that only he could hear. She pushed his hand away and rose on her own.
The corner of Kallen’s mouth twisted. He clenched his fist, then stripped off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.
“Let’s go.”
Canna nodded. She took the handkerchief from his jacket pocket and meticulously wiped her face clean before tossing it onto the greenhouse floor with a sharp smack.
“Then I shall see you next time, Mother.”
Josephine seethed with fury.
She watched their retreating backs as they left the greenhouse, then fanned herself violently, unable to contain her rage any longer.
“I never imagined Sir Kallen could be such a savage! Don’t you agree, Your Highness?”
She was so angry that spittle flew from her lips.
Josephine wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and appealed once more.
“Drawing a sword before a member of the imperial family! Even if it wasn’t pointed at Your Highness, that is the act of a ruffian, is it not!”
Yet the princess, remaining carefully neutral, merely smiled without a word.
That silence only fueled the fire burning across Josephine’s face. She fanned herself even more furiously and cried out.
“In any case, he truly is Alexandro Addis’s son! They say the Duke of Addis rips monsters apart with his bare hands, don’t they? How perfectly uncouth!”
Perfectly!
The moment she poured all her strength into that final word—
“...?”
A prickling sensation stung her skin.
Did something bite me?
As Josephine scratched the back of her neck—
“...!”
The pain swallowed her like a tidal wave.
It felt as though her entire body had been plunged into a blazing inferno. Then came the merciless agony of flesh being seared.
“Aaaagh!”
Josephine shot up from her seat and shook out her skirts. She flailed her sleeves and writhed wildly.
“F-fire! My body is on fire!”
The maids rushed to her. They lifted her clothing to check, but found nothing.
“Quickly! A-agh! Hurry! Put it out, I said!”
The burning sensation grew unbearable. Josephine tore at her garments. Buttons flew off with a sharp snap, exposing her skin.
Yet no matter how the maids searched, there was no sign of flames. Josephine simply continued screaming that her flesh was burning.
“D-Duchess?”
Lilienne stared in bewilderment, but in that moment Josephine could see nothing at all.
“Right now! It’s still burning! What are you all doing? Do something!”
“M-Madam, please calm yourself...”
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
The screams echoed from far behind them.
It seemed the plan had succeeded.
I should have seen it with my own eyes.
If Kallen had not appeared, she could have witnessed that delightful scene!
This idiot just had to interfere...
She had provoked the woman in every possible way to ensure she would strike her. She had not coated her face so thoroughly with that powder for nothing.
All that preparation, wasted.
Of course she had anticipated that Josephine would slap her face.
That was why she had taken the antidote beforehand to prevent poisoning, then carefully applied the toxic powder across her cheeks and jaw.
When the woman struck her, it would transfer to her hand. Tapping her chin with the fan would leave some there as well.
Fanning herself would send the powder straight to her nose and mouth. Even lifting her hand to her lips would have been enough to finish it.
“What are you so upset about?”
Inside the carriage.
When Canna kept her lips pressed tightly together and stared out the window, Kallen, who had remained silent, finally spoke.
“None of your business.”
Because of him, she had missed a truly entertaining spectacle. Of course she was irritated.
Kallen probably believed he had saved her, but from her perspective he was nothing but a massive hindrance.
“Why did you come here in the first place?”
“You broke our contract.”
“Contract? Oh, you mean that?”
You came all the way here to catch me over that?
Canna glared at him with open disgust.
It could not have been a significant contract to him, yet he had stormed into the Valentino estate. The man was truly relentless.
“...You.”
The heavy silence that followed was finally broken by Kallen.
“Do I seem that terrible to you?”